Saying goodbye to Red Lodge and heading to Bozeman

Keri and Kraig have been wonderfully hospitable , but we are rested up and ready to keep moving home.

The pond at their wedding venue

The weather overall has been nice and mild and the surroundings at their place was peaceful. We saw deer in the fields surrounding their house every night.

Possum

We got MUCH NEEDED lap cat. We are missing out kitties from home SO MUCH. Possum very kindly obliged us with cat snuggles.

Tuesday morning, we all went out for breakfast at the Red Lodge Cafe. Most of Downtown is open again after the flooding but a few businesses are closed still. All around town there are shade tents full of bottled water for the people affected by the flooding to get potable drinking water as they need it.

Red Lodge Cafe interior

Several murals from 1967 line one wall and the old mirror from the bar and some antique skis are on the other long wall.

Painted murals with carved totems
All the totems seem to be topped with frogs…

After Breakfast we headed back to their house to get the last few items packed into the van.

The cabin at Montana Wildflower

They were busy all weekend with weddings but I’m glad we stayed an extra day to spend some time together with family.

Feet, creatures, moth.

Plenty of wild and not-so-wild creatures for the kids to explore around the property. Frogs in the pond, grasshoppers and moths, deer, horses, and Mellie’s favorite…

…She even found a Garter snake!
I caught a bright green grasshopper!

Kraig spent time teaching the kids to dive a 4 wheel utility cart too. They had a TON of fun tooling around the grounds on Monday after all the weddings from the weekend were wrapped up.

Kraig teaching Mellie to drive the cart.
Zack and Mel
Up at the venue with Kortni during off hours

They had a blast going all over the many acres with the cart. I’m super glad I won’t be the first adult to teach the kids how to operate a moving vehicle. 🙂

Mellie on her own with the cart.
If you’re interested in having an event in Red Lodge, you can reach them at (406) 446-4933. It’s really a beautiful site and Red Lodge is a super cute town with lots of outdoorsy things to do nearby.

The drive between Red Lodge and Bozeman was windy. I wasn’t able to get photos while driving, but at one point we were diverted to the opposite side of a divided highway because a bridge was out. The Yellowstone river was VERY high in places and we could see plenty of spots where the river had overrun its banks and then subsided, leaving sandy shoals and piles of fresh rock which looked newly out of place.

It was hotter in Bozeman than Red Lodge, and the sky became dramatic and threatening while we played Croquet after dinner.

Carole and Gordon’s Croquet course

We had a tiny bit of rain about halfway through the game, and sat it out on the deck. Afterwards we were treated to a huge double rainbow across the way from their house.

After the rain

Zack had already gone to bed, and Mellie and I decided we were pooped, so we left the game to finish the next day.

2 comments

  1. Kyle · June 29, 2022

    Oh my gosh, who squished Keri’s face at the Cafe?!?

  2. Mary · June 30, 2022

    What a great stop! A much needed rest, and then your kids get to learn how to drive. Seems like a pretty sweet deal!

    I love the pictures, but that rainbow was my favorite! My word that was beautiful!!

    So glad you are having a good time.

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